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For the latest news from Scotland see our ScotNews feed at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/
Electric Scotland News
Clan Leslie Society International Gathering
Last week I told you about this gathering and now there is a link for a preview of what is on offer at:
https://digex.lib.uoguelph.ca/exhibits/show/clan-leslie
I have been having a rather passionate discussion on Brexit and the SNP in the comments portion of the Dundee Courier which you can read at:
https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/opin...-than-the-snp/
Scottish News from this weeks newspapers
Note that this is a selection and more can be read in our ScotNews feed on our index page. I am partly doing this to build an archive of modern news from and about Scotland as all the newsletters are archived and also indexed on Google and other search engines. I might also add that in newspapers such as the Guardian, Scotsman, Courier, etc. you will find many comments which can be just as interesting as the news story itself and of course you can also add your own comments if you wish.
The Scottish clans looking to appoint new chiefs
MANY of Scotland’s ancient clans are without a chief. Perhaps you have the lineage to take up one of these ceremonial roles, writes Chris McCall
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/heritage/peo...iefs-1-4194405
Black Watch play 10th anniversary
I got pretty emotional, says former Fife soldier
Read more at:
https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news...-fife-soldier/
A route by Royal appointment
Queen Victoria was a regular visitor to the Grampian mountains. During holidays at Balmoral
Read more at:
https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/life...l-appointment/
Scotland’s new Snorkel Trail
The latest is something of a departure from the average, bringing the wonders of Scotland’s marine life firmly under the microscope.
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/news/everyth...rail-1-4195638
Enormous obstacles to Scotland joining EU
Lord Steel says the obstacles to independence are enormous
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/news/politic...teel-1-4196824
Sturgeon in Berlin for Brexit talks
Nicola Sturgeon has travelled to Berlin for talks with a member of the German government about the UK's Brexit vote.
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-...-fife-37026212
Brexit ushers hidden harvest of agricultural news
Amid all the welter of opinion and concern that has arisen post-Brexit, one issue has not, so far, been highlighted.
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/business/com...news-1-4196938
Peter Pan author’s work was decades ahead of science
Kirriemuir playwright J M Barrie was decades ahead of his time in identifying key stages of child development, according to a new study.
Read more at:
https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news...of-scientists/
Time to get facts on fracking out in the open
Two sides are having their say but the rest of us lack the details we were promised, writes Martyn McLaughlin
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion...open-1-4198729
Scotland’s Population
The Registrar General’s Annual Review of Demographic Trends 2015
Read more at:
http://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/files//.../rgar-2015.pdf
Scotland deserves better than the SNP
Sir, Scotland deserves better. The Scottish economy is currently showing a deficit of almost 10% of GDP equal to some £14.9 billion
Read more at:
https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/opin...-than-the-snp/
Russian news agency Sputnik sets up Scottish studio
A Russian state-funded news agency has set up a studio in Edinburgh
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-...itics-37036900
I might add here that I have been visiting their web site now for a number of years and am often amazed at what they cover that you never see discussed in the Western Press.
Swinney's school overhaul comes under fire
Flagship plans to overhaul the way Scotland's schools operate would be absolute folly and could distract from the teaching of youngsters
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/news/swinney...fire-1-4200485
Electric Canadian
Life of Colonel Talbot
And the Talbot Settlement by Edward Ermatinger (1859).
You can read this book at: http://www.electriccanadian.com/make...oneltalbot.pdf
A Summer on the Canadian Prairie
By Georgina Binnie-Clark (second impression 1910).
You can read this book at: http://www.electriccanadian.com/pioneering/summer.pdf
Electric Scotland
Dictionary of National Biography
I have worked on bringing you some more biographies from this publication. In most cases I have added a link to these at the foot of the page for the name in our "Scottish Nation".
Carlyle http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...on/carlyle.htm
Carmichael http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...carmichael.htm
Carnegie http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...n/carnegie.htm
Carruthers http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...carruthers.htm
Carse http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...tion/carse.htm
Carsewell http://www.electricscotland.com/hist.../carsewell.htm
Cathcart http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...n/cathcart.htm
Robert Smith Candlish
Added this person to our Significant Scots section at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...ish_robert.htm
Sir Robert Carswell
Added this person to our Significant Scots section at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...ell_robert.htm
James Cassie
A small bio on this Scottish painter which you can read at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...ssie_james.htm
John Caw
Added this banker and miscellaneous writer to our Significant Scots at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...r/caw_john.htm
Community Garden Starter Pack
This pack is intended as an introduction to starting, developing and running a community garden or other community managed land-based project in
Scotland.
You can read this at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/agri...arter_pack.pdf
Scott and his Publishers
Came across this article in an old magazine. Added a link to it at the foot of his page at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...her/wscott.htm
Flora MacDonald in America
By J P MacLean (1909) and have added a link to this book at the foot of our Flora MacDonald page at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...aldamerica.pdf
Robert Burns Lives!
Edited by Frank Shaw
University of South Carolina Scholar Studies Abroad at the University of Glasgow By Professor Gerard Carruthers
Susan and I met Joseph Durant while visiting the University of South Carolina a few years ago and were immediately impressed with him. The three of us ran into each other at subsequent meetings on the USC campus and, if possible, we formed an even more favorable opinion of Joseph.
Ironically, we had endowed a scholarship for students at the University of Glasgow a few years before Joseph arrived there for a study abroad experience. When the good folks at Glasgow awarded our scholarship to Joseph, we were pleased and happy for him, for us, and the university. Those involved made an excellent choice.
Hopefully over the coming years the scholarship will continue to grow and additional scholars will be selected for study. The two of us have scholarships at several universities in the United States but could not be prouder of the connection between the University of Glasgow and Joseph Durant. I will never forget the day the bursar, Mr. Bruce, visited my dorm room at North Greenville College in the mountains of South Carolina. He had come to inform me I had been awarded a $500 scholarship for my freshman year. That amount equaled 500 hours of work at Mr. Hull’s Esso station during high school and a thousand hours from the work scholarship I had my freshman year at college. The many trees on campus with their brilliant colors of red, yellow and orange seemed to bloom a bit brighter for me over the weeks to come. Furthermore, the dishes, pots and pans I washed in the cafeteria, the floors I mopped, buffed, and waxed, the linen I ironed in the laundry, all at fifty cents an hour, did not feel quite so hard to do every day for the remainder of the year. Maybe this is what is called “paying it forward”! (FRS: 8.10.16)
You can read this article at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/fami...s_lives241.htm
The Story
This is an article taken from Volume 1 of Blackwood's Magazine.
TALES AND ANECDOTES OF THE PASTORAL LIFE
No II
The wedding-day at length arrived, and as the bridegroom had charged us to be there at an early hour we set out on horseback, immediately after breakfast, for the remote hamlet of Stridekirtm. We found no regular path, but our way lay through a country which it is impossible to view without soothing emotions. The streams are numerous, clear as crystal, and wind along the glens in many fantastic and irregular currents. The mountains are green to the tops, very high and form many beautiful soft and shaded outlines. They are, besides, literally speckled with snowy flocks, which, as we passed, were feeding or resting with such appearance of undisturbed repose, that the hi art naturally found itself an involuntary sharer in the pastoral tranquillity that pervaded all around.
My good friend, Mr Crumple, could give me no information regarding the names of the romantic glens and mountains that came within our view; he, however, knew who were the proprietors of the land, who the tenants, what rent and stipend each of them paid, and whose teinds were unexhausted; this seemed to be the sum and substance of his knowledge concerning the life, character, and manners, of his rural parishioners, save that, he could sometimes adduce circumstantial evidence that such and such fanners had made money of their land, and that others had made very little or none.
This district, over which he presides in an ecclesiastical capacity, forms an extensive portion of the Arcadia of Britain. It was likewise, in some late ages, noted for his zeal in the duties of religion, as well as for a thirst after the acquirement of knowledge concerning its doctrines; but under the tuition of such a pastor as my relative appears to be, it is no wonder that practical religion should be losing ground from year to year, and scepticism, the natural consequence of laxity in religious duties, gaining ground in proportion.
It may be deemed, perhaps, rather indecorous, to indulge in such reflections respecting any individual who has the honour to be ranked as a member of a body so generally respectable as our Scottish Clergy, and who, at the same time, maintains a fair worldly character; but in a general discussion in any thing that relates to the common weal of mankind, all such inferior considerations must be laid aside. And the more I consider the simplicity of the people of whom I am now writing the scenes among which they have been bred—and their lonely and sequestered habits of life, where the workings and phenomena of nature alone appear to attract the eye or engage the attention,—the more I am convinced that the temperament of their minds would naturally dispose them to devotional feelings. If they were but taught to read their Bibles, and only saw uniformly in the ministers of religion that sanctity of character by which the profession ought ever to be distinguished, these people would naturally be such as every well-wisher to the human race would desire a scattered peasantry to be. But when the most decided variance between example and precept is forced on their observation, what should we, or what can we, expect? Men must see, hear, feel, and judge according!. And certainly in no other instance is a patron so responsible to his sovereign, his country, and his God, as in the. choice he makes of spiritual pastors.
These were some of the reflections that occupied my mind as I traversed .his beautiful pastoral country with its morose teacher, and from these I was at length happily aroused by the appearance of the cottage, or shepherd’s steading, to which we were bound. I was situated in a little valley in the bottom of a wild glen, or hope, as it is there called, it stood all alone; but besides the dwelling-house, there was a little byre that held the two cows and their young,—a good stack of hay, another of peats,— a sheep-house, and two homily gardens; and the place had altogether something of a snug, comfortable appearance. Though this is only an individual picture, 1 am told it may he viewed as a general one on almost every shepherd’s dwelling in the south of Scotland, and it is only such pictures that, in the course of these tales, I mean to present to the public.
A number of the young shepherds and country-lasses had already arrived, impatient for the approaching wedding; others were coming down the green hills in mixed parties all around, leading one another, and skipping with the agility of lambs. They were all walking barefooted and barelegged, male and female—the men were dressed much in the ordinary way, only that the texture of their clothes was somewhat coarse, and the women had black beavers, white gowns, and 'green coats kilted to the knee,’ When they came near the house they went into little sequestered hollows, the men and women apart. “pat on their hose gn’ shoon, and made themsels a’ trig an’ witching,” and then came and joined the group with a joy uhat could not be restrained by walking,—they run to mix with their youthful associates.
Still as they arrived, we saw, on our approach, that they drew up in two rows on the green, and soon found that it was a contest at leaping. The shepherds were stripped to the shirt and drawers, and exerting themselves in turn with all their might, while their sweethearts and sisters were looking on with no small share of interest.
We received a kind and hospitable welcome from honest Peter and his father who was a sagacious-looking old carle, with a broad bonnet and gray locks; but the contest on the green still continuing, I went and ioined the circle, delighted to see a pastime so appropriate to the shepherd’s life. 1 was utterly astonished at the agility which the fellows displayed.
They took a short race of about twelve or fourteen paces, which they denominated the ramrace, and then rose from the footing-place with such a bound as if they had been going to mount and fly into the air. The crooked guise in which they flew shewed great, art—the knees were doubled upward—the body bent forward—and the head thrown somewhat back; so that they alighted on their heels with the greatest ease and safety, their joints being loosened in such a manner that not one of them was straight. If they fell backward on the ground, the leap was not accounted fair. Several of the antagonists took the ramrace with a staff in their hand, which they left at the footing-place as they rose. This I thought unfair, but none of their opponents objected to the custom. I measured the distance, and found that two of them had actually leapt twenty-two feet, on a level plain, at one bound. This may appear extraordinary to those who never witnessed sorbat. exercise, but it is a fact of which I can adduce sufficient proof.
Being delighted as well as astonished at seeing these feats of agility, 1 took Peter aside, and asked him if I might offer prizes for some other exercises. “About na,” said Peter; “ye’ll affront them; let them just alane; they hae eneuch o’ incitement e’now, in rather owre muckle atween you an’ me; forebye die brag o th“ thing—as lang as the lasses stand and look at them, they’ll ply atween death an’ life.” What Peter said was true, —instead of getting weary of their sports, their ardour seemed to increase; and always as soon as the superiority of any individual in one particular exercise was manifest, another was instantly resorted to; so that ere long there was only party engaged in wrestling, one in throwing the stone, and another at hop-step-and-leap, all at one and the same time.
This last seems to be rather the favourite amusement. It consists of three succeeding bounds, all with the same race; and as the exertion is greater, and of longer continuance, they can judge with more precision the exact capibility of the several competitors. I measured the ground, and found the greatest distance effected in this way to be forty-six feet. I am informed, that whenever two or three young shepherds are gathered together, at fold or bught, moor or market, at all times and seasons, Sundays excepted, one or more of these athletic exercises is uniformly resorted to; and certainly, in a class where hardiness and agility are so requisite, they can never be too much encouraged.
But now all these favourite sports were terminated at once by a loud cry of “Hurra! the broose! the broose!” Not knowing what the broose meant, I looked all around with great precipitation, but for some time could see nothing but hills. At length. however, by marking the direction in which the rest looked I perceived, at a considerable distance down the glen, five horsemen coming at full speed on a determined race, although on such a road, as I believe, a race was never before contested. It was that by which we had lately come, and the only one that led to the house from all the four quarters of the world. For some time I crossed “the crooks of the burn,” as they called them; that is, jt kept straight up the bottom of the glen, and crossed the burn at every turning. Of course every time that the group crossed this stream, they were for a moment involved in a cloud of spray that almost hid them from view, and the frequent recurrence of this rendered the effect highly comic.
Still, however, they kept apparently close together, till at length the path left the bottom of the narrow valley, and came round the sloping breast of a hill that was all interspersed with drains and small irregularities of surface; this producing no abatement of exertion oi speed, horses and men were soon foundering, plunging, and tumbling about in all directions. If this was amusing to view, it was still more so to hear the observations of the delighted group that stood round me and beheld it. “Ha, ha, ha! yonder’s ane aff! Gude faith! yon’s Jock o’ the Meer-Cleueh; he has gotten an ill-faur’d flaip.—Holloa! yonder gaes another, down through a lair to the een-holes! Weel done, Aedie o’ Aberlosk! Hie till him, ’fousy, outher row or never! Lay on, ye deevil, an’ hing by the name of Hurray!”
The women were by this time screaming, and the men literally jumping and clapping their hands for joy at the delay that was going on; and there was one little elderly-locking man whom I could not help noting; he had fallen down on the ground in a convulsion of laughter, and was spurring and laying on it with both hands and feet. One, whom they denominated Davie Scott o the Ramseycleugh Burn, amid the bay of dogs, and the shouts of men and women, got first to the bridegroom’s door, and of course was acknowledged to have won the broose; but the attention was soon wholly turned from him to those behind. The man whose horse had sunk in the bog, perceiving that all chance of extricating it again on the instant was out of the question, lost not a moment, but sprung to his feet—threw off his clothes, hat, and shoes, all at one brush—and ran towards the goal with all his might. Jock o’ the Aleer Cleuch, who was still a good way farther back, and crippled besides with his fall, perceiving this, mounted again -whipped on furiously, and would soon have overtaken his pedestrian adversary; but the shepherds are bad horsemen, and, moreover, Jock’s horse, which belonged to Gideon of Kirkhope, was unacquainted with the sheep-drains, and terrified at them; consequently, by making a sudden jerk backwards when he should have leapt across one of them, and whin Jock supposed that he was just going to do so- he threw his rider a second time. The shouts of laughter were again renewed, and every one was calling out, "Now for the mell! Now for the mell! Deil tak the hindmost now!” These sounds reached Jock’s ears; he lost no time in making a last effort, but flew at his horse again—remounted him—and, by urging him to a desperate effort, actually got a-head of his adversary just when within ten yards of the door, and thus escaped the disgrace of winning the mell.
I was afterwards told, that in former ages it was the custom of the Border, when the victor in the race was presented with the prize of honour, the one who came in last was, at the same time, presented with a mallet or large wooden hammer, called a melt in the dialect of the country, and that then the rest of the competitors stood in need to be near at hand, and instantly to force the mell from him, else he was at liberty to knock as many of them down with it as he could. The mell has now, for many years, been only a nominal prize; but there is often more sport about the gaining of it than the principal one. There was another occurrence which added greatly to the animation of this, which I had not time before fully to relate. About the time when the two unfortunate wights were unhorsed in the bog, those who still kept on were met and attacked, open mouth, by at least twenty frolicsome collies, that seemed fully as intent on sport as their masters. These bit the hind-legs of the horses, snapped at their noses, and raised such an outrage of lurking, that the poor animals, forespent as they were, were constrained to lay themselves out almost beyond power. Nor did the fray cease when the race was won. Encouraged by the noise and clamour which then arose about the gaining of the mell, the staunch collies continued the attack, and hunted the racers round and round the houses with great speed, while the horses were all the time wheeling and flinging most furiously, and their riders, in desperation, vociferating and cursing their assailants.
All the guests now crowded together, and much humour and blunt wit passed about the gaining of the broose. Each of the competitors had his difficulties and cross accidents to relate; and each affirmed, that if it had not been such and such hindrances, he would have gained the broze to a certainty. Davie Scott o the Ramsey-cleuen burn, however, assured them, that “he was aye hauding in his yaud wi’ the left hand, and gin he had liket. to gie her out her head, she wad hae gallopit amaist a third faster.” That may be, said Aedie o’ Abcrlosk, “but I hae come better on than I expectit wi’ my Cameronian naig. I never saw him etreek himsel sae afore—I darr say he thought that Davie was auu' Clavers mountit on Hornif. Poor fallow!” continued he, patting him, “he has a good deal o’ annprelatic doumess in him: but I see he has some spirit, fur a’ that I bought him for a powney, but he’s turned out a beast.”
I next overheard one proposing to the man who left his horse, and exerted himself so manfully on foot, to go and pull his horse out of the quagmire. “Na, na” said he, “let him stick yonder a while, to barn him mair sense than to gang in till an open mellee and gar ane get a mell. I saw the gate I was gawn, but I couldna swee him iff; sae I just thought o’ Jenny Blythe, and plunged in. I kend weei something was to happen, for 1 met her first this morning, the ill-liueu carlin: but I had need to haud my tongue!—Gudeman, let us see a drap whisky.” He was presented with a glass. “Come, here’s Jenny Blythe, said Andrew, and drank it. off.— I wad he nae the waut o’ a wee drap teo,” said Aberiosk, taking a glass of whisky in his hand, and looking stedfastly through it. “I think I see Jock the elder here,” said he; “ay, it’s just him—come, here’s the five kirks o’ Eskdalf." He drank it off. “Gudeman. that’s naething but a Turn-Park of a glass: if ye’ll fill it again, I’ll gie a toast ye never heard afore. This is Bailey s Dictionary,” said Aedie. and drank it off again. —"But when a’ your daffin’s owre, Aedie,” said John, “what hae ye made o’ our young friend?”—Ou ! she’s safe eneuch,” returned he; “the best-man and John the elder are wi her.”
On looking round the corner of the house, we now perceived that the bride and her two attendants were close at hand. They came at a good canter. She managed her horse well, kept her saddle with great ease, and seemed an elegant sprightly girl, of twenty-four or thereabouts. Every cap was instantly waved in the air, and the bride was saluted with three hearty cheers. Old John, well aware of what it behoved him to do, threw off his broad bonnet, and took the bride respectfully from her horse—kissed and welcomed her home. “Ye’re welcome hame till us, Jeany, my bonny woman,” said he; “may God bless e, an’ mak ye just as good an’ as appy as I wish ye." It was a beautiful and affecting sight to see him leading her toward the home that was now to be her own. He held her hand in both his—the wind waved his long gray locks—his features were lengthened considerably the wrong way, and I could perceive a tear glistening on his furrowed cheek.
All seemed to know exactly the parts they had to act; but every thing came on me like magic, and quite by surprise. The bride now stepped short on the threshold, while the old man broke a triangular cake of short-broad over her head, the pieces of which he threw about among the young people. These scrambled for them with great violence snd eagerness; and indeed they seemed always to be most in their element when any thing that required strength or activity was presented. For my part, I could not comprehend what the sudden convulsion meant, for in a moment the crowd was moving like a whirlpool, and tumbling over one another in half dozens till a little girl, escaping from the vortex, informed me that “they mi battling wha first to get a baud o’ the bride’s bunn.” I was still in the dark, till at length I saw the successful candidates presenting their favourites with small pieces of this mystical cake. One beautiful maid, with light locks, blue eyes, and cheeks like the vernal rose, came nimbly up to me, called me familiarly by my name, looked at me with perfect seriousness, and without even a smile on her innocent face, asked me if I was married. I could scarcely contain my gravity, while I took her by the hand, and answered in the negative.—“An’ hae ye no gotten a piece o’ the bride’s cake?”—‘Indeed, my dear, I am sorry I have not.' "then, that’s a great shame, that ye hae nae gotten a tvee bit! I canna bide to see a stranger guided that gate. Here, sir, I'11 gie ye the tae halt o’ mine, it will ser' us baith; an' I wad rather want mysel than as civil a gentleman that's a stranger should want.”
So saying, she took a small piece of cake from her lap, and parted it with me, at the same time rolling each of the pieces carefully up in a leaf of an old halfpenny ballad; but the whole of her demeanour showed the utmost seriousness, and of how much import she judged this trivial crumb to be. “Now, continued she, “ye maun lay this ancath your head, sir, when ye gang to your bed, and ye’il dream about the woman ye are to get for your wife. Ye’ll just think ye see her plainly an' bodily atore your een; an’ ye’ll be sae weel acquainted wi’ her, that ye‘11 ken her again when ye see her, if it war amang a thousand. It’s a queer thing, but it's perfectly true; sae ye maun mind no to forget.
I promised the most punctual observance of all that she enjoined, and added, that 1 was sure 1 would dream of the lovely giver; that indeed I would be sorry were I to dream of any other, as I deemed it impossible to dream of so much innocence and beauty.—"Now mind no to forget," rejoined she, and skipped lightly away to join her youthful associates.
As soon us the bride was led into the house, old Nelly, the bridegroom’s mother, went aside to see the beast on which her daughter-in-law had been brought home; and perceiving that it was a mare, she fell aserving and wringing her hands.—I inquired, with some alarm, what was the matter. “O dear, sir,” returned she, “it’s for the poor bairnies that’ll yet hae to dree this unlucky mischance—Laike-a-day, poor waefu brats! they’ll no lie in a dry bed for i dozen o’ years to come!”
“Hout! baud your tongue, Nelly,” said the best man, the thing’s but a freat a’ thogither. But really we coudna help it: the factor’s naig wantit a fore-fit shoe, an was beekin like a winter-craw. If I had ridden five miles to the smiddy wi' him, it is ten to ane that Jock Anderson wad hae been drunk, an’ then we wadna hae gotten him; bride hame afore twall o’clock at night; sae I thought it was better to let them tak their chance than spoil sae muckle good sport, an' I e’en set her on Wattle Briden’s povnie. The factor has behaved very ill about it, the inuekle stoottin gowk! If I had durst, I wad hae gitn him a deevil of a thrashin; but he says, ‘Faith it’s— that—yes, indeed—that—he will send them—yes, faith—it’s even a—a new tikabed every year.’”
The ceremony of the marriage next ensued; but as there was nothing peculiar about it (except that it took place in the bridegroom's house, and not at the bride’s former home, which was out of the parson’s reach); and as it was, besides, the dullest part of that day’s exercise, I shall not say much about it, only that every thing was done decently and in order. But I have run on so long with this Number, that I fear I must postpone the foot-race, the dinner discourse, and final winding up of the wedding, till a future opportunity.
As I may have misspelled the odd word or two the original text can be read at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...edding_day.pdf
And that's it for this week and hope you all enjoy your weekend.
Alastair
http://www.electricscotland.com/
Electric Scotland News
Clan Leslie Society International Gathering
Last week I told you about this gathering and now there is a link for a preview of what is on offer at:
https://digex.lib.uoguelph.ca/exhibits/show/clan-leslie
I have been having a rather passionate discussion on Brexit and the SNP in the comments portion of the Dundee Courier which you can read at:
https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/opin...-than-the-snp/
Scottish News from this weeks newspapers
Note that this is a selection and more can be read in our ScotNews feed on our index page. I am partly doing this to build an archive of modern news from and about Scotland as all the newsletters are archived and also indexed on Google and other search engines. I might also add that in newspapers such as the Guardian, Scotsman, Courier, etc. you will find many comments which can be just as interesting as the news story itself and of course you can also add your own comments if you wish.
The Scottish clans looking to appoint new chiefs
MANY of Scotland’s ancient clans are without a chief. Perhaps you have the lineage to take up one of these ceremonial roles, writes Chris McCall
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/heritage/peo...iefs-1-4194405
Black Watch play 10th anniversary
I got pretty emotional, says former Fife soldier
Read more at:
https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news...-fife-soldier/
A route by Royal appointment
Queen Victoria was a regular visitor to the Grampian mountains. During holidays at Balmoral
Read more at:
https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/life...l-appointment/
Scotland’s new Snorkel Trail
The latest is something of a departure from the average, bringing the wonders of Scotland’s marine life firmly under the microscope.
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/news/everyth...rail-1-4195638
Enormous obstacles to Scotland joining EU
Lord Steel says the obstacles to independence are enormous
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/news/politic...teel-1-4196824
Sturgeon in Berlin for Brexit talks
Nicola Sturgeon has travelled to Berlin for talks with a member of the German government about the UK's Brexit vote.
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-...-fife-37026212
Brexit ushers hidden harvest of agricultural news
Amid all the welter of opinion and concern that has arisen post-Brexit, one issue has not, so far, been highlighted.
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/business/com...news-1-4196938
Peter Pan author’s work was decades ahead of science
Kirriemuir playwright J M Barrie was decades ahead of his time in identifying key stages of child development, according to a new study.
Read more at:
https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news...of-scientists/
Time to get facts on fracking out in the open
Two sides are having their say but the rest of us lack the details we were promised, writes Martyn McLaughlin
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion...open-1-4198729
Scotland’s Population
The Registrar General’s Annual Review of Demographic Trends 2015
Read more at:
http://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/files//.../rgar-2015.pdf
Scotland deserves better than the SNP
Sir, Scotland deserves better. The Scottish economy is currently showing a deficit of almost 10% of GDP equal to some £14.9 billion
Read more at:
https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/opin...-than-the-snp/
Russian news agency Sputnik sets up Scottish studio
A Russian state-funded news agency has set up a studio in Edinburgh
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-...itics-37036900
I might add here that I have been visiting their web site now for a number of years and am often amazed at what they cover that you never see discussed in the Western Press.
Swinney's school overhaul comes under fire
Flagship plans to overhaul the way Scotland's schools operate would be absolute folly and could distract from the teaching of youngsters
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/news/swinney...fire-1-4200485
Electric Canadian
Life of Colonel Talbot
And the Talbot Settlement by Edward Ermatinger (1859).
You can read this book at: http://www.electriccanadian.com/make...oneltalbot.pdf
A Summer on the Canadian Prairie
By Georgina Binnie-Clark (second impression 1910).
You can read this book at: http://www.electriccanadian.com/pioneering/summer.pdf
Electric Scotland
Dictionary of National Biography
I have worked on bringing you some more biographies from this publication. In most cases I have added a link to these at the foot of the page for the name in our "Scottish Nation".
Carlyle http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...on/carlyle.htm
Carmichael http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...carmichael.htm
Carnegie http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...n/carnegie.htm
Carruthers http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...carruthers.htm
Carse http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...tion/carse.htm
Carsewell http://www.electricscotland.com/hist.../carsewell.htm
Cathcart http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...n/cathcart.htm
Robert Smith Candlish
Added this person to our Significant Scots section at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...ish_robert.htm
Sir Robert Carswell
Added this person to our Significant Scots section at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...ell_robert.htm
James Cassie
A small bio on this Scottish painter which you can read at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...ssie_james.htm
John Caw
Added this banker and miscellaneous writer to our Significant Scots at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...r/caw_john.htm
Community Garden Starter Pack
This pack is intended as an introduction to starting, developing and running a community garden or other community managed land-based project in
Scotland.
You can read this at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/agri...arter_pack.pdf
Scott and his Publishers
Came across this article in an old magazine. Added a link to it at the foot of his page at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...her/wscott.htm
Flora MacDonald in America
By J P MacLean (1909) and have added a link to this book at the foot of our Flora MacDonald page at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...aldamerica.pdf
Robert Burns Lives!
Edited by Frank Shaw
University of South Carolina Scholar Studies Abroad at the University of Glasgow By Professor Gerard Carruthers
Susan and I met Joseph Durant while visiting the University of South Carolina a few years ago and were immediately impressed with him. The three of us ran into each other at subsequent meetings on the USC campus and, if possible, we formed an even more favorable opinion of Joseph.
Ironically, we had endowed a scholarship for students at the University of Glasgow a few years before Joseph arrived there for a study abroad experience. When the good folks at Glasgow awarded our scholarship to Joseph, we were pleased and happy for him, for us, and the university. Those involved made an excellent choice.
Hopefully over the coming years the scholarship will continue to grow and additional scholars will be selected for study. The two of us have scholarships at several universities in the United States but could not be prouder of the connection between the University of Glasgow and Joseph Durant. I will never forget the day the bursar, Mr. Bruce, visited my dorm room at North Greenville College in the mountains of South Carolina. He had come to inform me I had been awarded a $500 scholarship for my freshman year. That amount equaled 500 hours of work at Mr. Hull’s Esso station during high school and a thousand hours from the work scholarship I had my freshman year at college. The many trees on campus with their brilliant colors of red, yellow and orange seemed to bloom a bit brighter for me over the weeks to come. Furthermore, the dishes, pots and pans I washed in the cafeteria, the floors I mopped, buffed, and waxed, the linen I ironed in the laundry, all at fifty cents an hour, did not feel quite so hard to do every day for the remainder of the year. Maybe this is what is called “paying it forward”! (FRS: 8.10.16)
You can read this article at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/fami...s_lives241.htm
The Story
This is an article taken from Volume 1 of Blackwood's Magazine.
TALES AND ANECDOTES OF THE PASTORAL LIFE
No II
The wedding-day at length arrived, and as the bridegroom had charged us to be there at an early hour we set out on horseback, immediately after breakfast, for the remote hamlet of Stridekirtm. We found no regular path, but our way lay through a country which it is impossible to view without soothing emotions. The streams are numerous, clear as crystal, and wind along the glens in many fantastic and irregular currents. The mountains are green to the tops, very high and form many beautiful soft and shaded outlines. They are, besides, literally speckled with snowy flocks, which, as we passed, were feeding or resting with such appearance of undisturbed repose, that the hi art naturally found itself an involuntary sharer in the pastoral tranquillity that pervaded all around.
My good friend, Mr Crumple, could give me no information regarding the names of the romantic glens and mountains that came within our view; he, however, knew who were the proprietors of the land, who the tenants, what rent and stipend each of them paid, and whose teinds were unexhausted; this seemed to be the sum and substance of his knowledge concerning the life, character, and manners, of his rural parishioners, save that, he could sometimes adduce circumstantial evidence that such and such fanners had made money of their land, and that others had made very little or none.
This district, over which he presides in an ecclesiastical capacity, forms an extensive portion of the Arcadia of Britain. It was likewise, in some late ages, noted for his zeal in the duties of religion, as well as for a thirst after the acquirement of knowledge concerning its doctrines; but under the tuition of such a pastor as my relative appears to be, it is no wonder that practical religion should be losing ground from year to year, and scepticism, the natural consequence of laxity in religious duties, gaining ground in proportion.
It may be deemed, perhaps, rather indecorous, to indulge in such reflections respecting any individual who has the honour to be ranked as a member of a body so generally respectable as our Scottish Clergy, and who, at the same time, maintains a fair worldly character; but in a general discussion in any thing that relates to the common weal of mankind, all such inferior considerations must be laid aside. And the more I consider the simplicity of the people of whom I am now writing the scenes among which they have been bred—and their lonely and sequestered habits of life, where the workings and phenomena of nature alone appear to attract the eye or engage the attention,—the more I am convinced that the temperament of their minds would naturally dispose them to devotional feelings. If they were but taught to read their Bibles, and only saw uniformly in the ministers of religion that sanctity of character by which the profession ought ever to be distinguished, these people would naturally be such as every well-wisher to the human race would desire a scattered peasantry to be. But when the most decided variance between example and precept is forced on their observation, what should we, or what can we, expect? Men must see, hear, feel, and judge according!. And certainly in no other instance is a patron so responsible to his sovereign, his country, and his God, as in the. choice he makes of spiritual pastors.
These were some of the reflections that occupied my mind as I traversed .his beautiful pastoral country with its morose teacher, and from these I was at length happily aroused by the appearance of the cottage, or shepherd’s steading, to which we were bound. I was situated in a little valley in the bottom of a wild glen, or hope, as it is there called, it stood all alone; but besides the dwelling-house, there was a little byre that held the two cows and their young,—a good stack of hay, another of peats,— a sheep-house, and two homily gardens; and the place had altogether something of a snug, comfortable appearance. Though this is only an individual picture, 1 am told it may he viewed as a general one on almost every shepherd’s dwelling in the south of Scotland, and it is only such pictures that, in the course of these tales, I mean to present to the public.
A number of the young shepherds and country-lasses had already arrived, impatient for the approaching wedding; others were coming down the green hills in mixed parties all around, leading one another, and skipping with the agility of lambs. They were all walking barefooted and barelegged, male and female—the men were dressed much in the ordinary way, only that the texture of their clothes was somewhat coarse, and the women had black beavers, white gowns, and 'green coats kilted to the knee,’ When they came near the house they went into little sequestered hollows, the men and women apart. “pat on their hose gn’ shoon, and made themsels a’ trig an’ witching,” and then came and joined the group with a joy uhat could not be restrained by walking,—they run to mix with their youthful associates.
Still as they arrived, we saw, on our approach, that they drew up in two rows on the green, and soon found that it was a contest at leaping. The shepherds were stripped to the shirt and drawers, and exerting themselves in turn with all their might, while their sweethearts and sisters were looking on with no small share of interest.
We received a kind and hospitable welcome from honest Peter and his father who was a sagacious-looking old carle, with a broad bonnet and gray locks; but the contest on the green still continuing, I went and ioined the circle, delighted to see a pastime so appropriate to the shepherd’s life. 1 was utterly astonished at the agility which the fellows displayed.
They took a short race of about twelve or fourteen paces, which they denominated the ramrace, and then rose from the footing-place with such a bound as if they had been going to mount and fly into the air. The crooked guise in which they flew shewed great, art—the knees were doubled upward—the body bent forward—and the head thrown somewhat back; so that they alighted on their heels with the greatest ease and safety, their joints being loosened in such a manner that not one of them was straight. If they fell backward on the ground, the leap was not accounted fair. Several of the antagonists took the ramrace with a staff in their hand, which they left at the footing-place as they rose. This I thought unfair, but none of their opponents objected to the custom. I measured the distance, and found that two of them had actually leapt twenty-two feet, on a level plain, at one bound. This may appear extraordinary to those who never witnessed sorbat. exercise, but it is a fact of which I can adduce sufficient proof.
Being delighted as well as astonished at seeing these feats of agility, 1 took Peter aside, and asked him if I might offer prizes for some other exercises. “About na,” said Peter; “ye’ll affront them; let them just alane; they hae eneuch o’ incitement e’now, in rather owre muckle atween you an’ me; forebye die brag o th“ thing—as lang as the lasses stand and look at them, they’ll ply atween death an’ life.” What Peter said was true, —instead of getting weary of their sports, their ardour seemed to increase; and always as soon as the superiority of any individual in one particular exercise was manifest, another was instantly resorted to; so that ere long there was only party engaged in wrestling, one in throwing the stone, and another at hop-step-and-leap, all at one and the same time.
This last seems to be rather the favourite amusement. It consists of three succeeding bounds, all with the same race; and as the exertion is greater, and of longer continuance, they can judge with more precision the exact capibility of the several competitors. I measured the ground, and found the greatest distance effected in this way to be forty-six feet. I am informed, that whenever two or three young shepherds are gathered together, at fold or bught, moor or market, at all times and seasons, Sundays excepted, one or more of these athletic exercises is uniformly resorted to; and certainly, in a class where hardiness and agility are so requisite, they can never be too much encouraged.
But now all these favourite sports were terminated at once by a loud cry of “Hurra! the broose! the broose!” Not knowing what the broose meant, I looked all around with great precipitation, but for some time could see nothing but hills. At length. however, by marking the direction in which the rest looked I perceived, at a considerable distance down the glen, five horsemen coming at full speed on a determined race, although on such a road, as I believe, a race was never before contested. It was that by which we had lately come, and the only one that led to the house from all the four quarters of the world. For some time I crossed “the crooks of the burn,” as they called them; that is, jt kept straight up the bottom of the glen, and crossed the burn at every turning. Of course every time that the group crossed this stream, they were for a moment involved in a cloud of spray that almost hid them from view, and the frequent recurrence of this rendered the effect highly comic.
Still, however, they kept apparently close together, till at length the path left the bottom of the narrow valley, and came round the sloping breast of a hill that was all interspersed with drains and small irregularities of surface; this producing no abatement of exertion oi speed, horses and men were soon foundering, plunging, and tumbling about in all directions. If this was amusing to view, it was still more so to hear the observations of the delighted group that stood round me and beheld it. “Ha, ha, ha! yonder’s ane aff! Gude faith! yon’s Jock o’ the Meer-Cleueh; he has gotten an ill-faur’d flaip.—Holloa! yonder gaes another, down through a lair to the een-holes! Weel done, Aedie o’ Aberlosk! Hie till him, ’fousy, outher row or never! Lay on, ye deevil, an’ hing by the name of Hurray!”
The women were by this time screaming, and the men literally jumping and clapping their hands for joy at the delay that was going on; and there was one little elderly-locking man whom I could not help noting; he had fallen down on the ground in a convulsion of laughter, and was spurring and laying on it with both hands and feet. One, whom they denominated Davie Scott o the Ramseycleugh Burn, amid the bay of dogs, and the shouts of men and women, got first to the bridegroom’s door, and of course was acknowledged to have won the broose; but the attention was soon wholly turned from him to those behind. The man whose horse had sunk in the bog, perceiving that all chance of extricating it again on the instant was out of the question, lost not a moment, but sprung to his feet—threw off his clothes, hat, and shoes, all at one brush—and ran towards the goal with all his might. Jock o’ the Aleer Cleuch, who was still a good way farther back, and crippled besides with his fall, perceiving this, mounted again -whipped on furiously, and would soon have overtaken his pedestrian adversary; but the shepherds are bad horsemen, and, moreover, Jock’s horse, which belonged to Gideon of Kirkhope, was unacquainted with the sheep-drains, and terrified at them; consequently, by making a sudden jerk backwards when he should have leapt across one of them, and whin Jock supposed that he was just going to do so- he threw his rider a second time. The shouts of laughter were again renewed, and every one was calling out, "Now for the mell! Now for the mell! Deil tak the hindmost now!” These sounds reached Jock’s ears; he lost no time in making a last effort, but flew at his horse again—remounted him—and, by urging him to a desperate effort, actually got a-head of his adversary just when within ten yards of the door, and thus escaped the disgrace of winning the mell.
I was afterwards told, that in former ages it was the custom of the Border, when the victor in the race was presented with the prize of honour, the one who came in last was, at the same time, presented with a mallet or large wooden hammer, called a melt in the dialect of the country, and that then the rest of the competitors stood in need to be near at hand, and instantly to force the mell from him, else he was at liberty to knock as many of them down with it as he could. The mell has now, for many years, been only a nominal prize; but there is often more sport about the gaining of it than the principal one. There was another occurrence which added greatly to the animation of this, which I had not time before fully to relate. About the time when the two unfortunate wights were unhorsed in the bog, those who still kept on were met and attacked, open mouth, by at least twenty frolicsome collies, that seemed fully as intent on sport as their masters. These bit the hind-legs of the horses, snapped at their noses, and raised such an outrage of lurking, that the poor animals, forespent as they were, were constrained to lay themselves out almost beyond power. Nor did the fray cease when the race was won. Encouraged by the noise and clamour which then arose about the gaining of the mell, the staunch collies continued the attack, and hunted the racers round and round the houses with great speed, while the horses were all the time wheeling and flinging most furiously, and their riders, in desperation, vociferating and cursing their assailants.
All the guests now crowded together, and much humour and blunt wit passed about the gaining of the broose. Each of the competitors had his difficulties and cross accidents to relate; and each affirmed, that if it had not been such and such hindrances, he would have gained the broze to a certainty. Davie Scott o the Ramsey-cleuen burn, however, assured them, that “he was aye hauding in his yaud wi’ the left hand, and gin he had liket. to gie her out her head, she wad hae gallopit amaist a third faster.” That may be, said Aedie o’ Abcrlosk, “but I hae come better on than I expectit wi’ my Cameronian naig. I never saw him etreek himsel sae afore—I darr say he thought that Davie was auu' Clavers mountit on Hornif. Poor fallow!” continued he, patting him, “he has a good deal o’ annprelatic doumess in him: but I see he has some spirit, fur a’ that I bought him for a powney, but he’s turned out a beast.”
I next overheard one proposing to the man who left his horse, and exerted himself so manfully on foot, to go and pull his horse out of the quagmire. “Na, na” said he, “let him stick yonder a while, to barn him mair sense than to gang in till an open mellee and gar ane get a mell. I saw the gate I was gawn, but I couldna swee him iff; sae I just thought o’ Jenny Blythe, and plunged in. I kend weei something was to happen, for 1 met her first this morning, the ill-liueu carlin: but I had need to haud my tongue!—Gudeman, let us see a drap whisky.” He was presented with a glass. “Come, here’s Jenny Blythe, said Andrew, and drank it. off.— I wad he nae the waut o’ a wee drap teo,” said Aberiosk, taking a glass of whisky in his hand, and looking stedfastly through it. “I think I see Jock the elder here,” said he; “ay, it’s just him—come, here’s the five kirks o’ Eskdalf." He drank it off. “Gudeman. that’s naething but a Turn-Park of a glass: if ye’ll fill it again, I’ll gie a toast ye never heard afore. This is Bailey s Dictionary,” said Aedie. and drank it off again. —"But when a’ your daffin’s owre, Aedie,” said John, “what hae ye made o’ our young friend?”—Ou ! she’s safe eneuch,” returned he; “the best-man and John the elder are wi her.”
On looking round the corner of the house, we now perceived that the bride and her two attendants were close at hand. They came at a good canter. She managed her horse well, kept her saddle with great ease, and seemed an elegant sprightly girl, of twenty-four or thereabouts. Every cap was instantly waved in the air, and the bride was saluted with three hearty cheers. Old John, well aware of what it behoved him to do, threw off his broad bonnet, and took the bride respectfully from her horse—kissed and welcomed her home. “Ye’re welcome hame till us, Jeany, my bonny woman,” said he; “may God bless e, an’ mak ye just as good an’ as appy as I wish ye." It was a beautiful and affecting sight to see him leading her toward the home that was now to be her own. He held her hand in both his—the wind waved his long gray locks—his features were lengthened considerably the wrong way, and I could perceive a tear glistening on his furrowed cheek.
All seemed to know exactly the parts they had to act; but every thing came on me like magic, and quite by surprise. The bride now stepped short on the threshold, while the old man broke a triangular cake of short-broad over her head, the pieces of which he threw about among the young people. These scrambled for them with great violence snd eagerness; and indeed they seemed always to be most in their element when any thing that required strength or activity was presented. For my part, I could not comprehend what the sudden convulsion meant, for in a moment the crowd was moving like a whirlpool, and tumbling over one another in half dozens till a little girl, escaping from the vortex, informed me that “they mi battling wha first to get a baud o’ the bride’s bunn.” I was still in the dark, till at length I saw the successful candidates presenting their favourites with small pieces of this mystical cake. One beautiful maid, with light locks, blue eyes, and cheeks like the vernal rose, came nimbly up to me, called me familiarly by my name, looked at me with perfect seriousness, and without even a smile on her innocent face, asked me if I was married. I could scarcely contain my gravity, while I took her by the hand, and answered in the negative.—“An’ hae ye no gotten a piece o’ the bride’s cake?”—‘Indeed, my dear, I am sorry I have not.' "then, that’s a great shame, that ye hae nae gotten a tvee bit! I canna bide to see a stranger guided that gate. Here, sir, I'11 gie ye the tae halt o’ mine, it will ser' us baith; an' I wad rather want mysel than as civil a gentleman that's a stranger should want.”
So saying, she took a small piece of cake from her lap, and parted it with me, at the same time rolling each of the pieces carefully up in a leaf of an old halfpenny ballad; but the whole of her demeanour showed the utmost seriousness, and of how much import she judged this trivial crumb to be. “Now, continued she, “ye maun lay this ancath your head, sir, when ye gang to your bed, and ye’il dream about the woman ye are to get for your wife. Ye’ll just think ye see her plainly an' bodily atore your een; an’ ye’ll be sae weel acquainted wi’ her, that ye‘11 ken her again when ye see her, if it war amang a thousand. It’s a queer thing, but it's perfectly true; sae ye maun mind no to forget.
I promised the most punctual observance of all that she enjoined, and added, that 1 was sure 1 would dream of the lovely giver; that indeed I would be sorry were I to dream of any other, as I deemed it impossible to dream of so much innocence and beauty.—"Now mind no to forget," rejoined she, and skipped lightly away to join her youthful associates.
As soon us the bride was led into the house, old Nelly, the bridegroom’s mother, went aside to see the beast on which her daughter-in-law had been brought home; and perceiving that it was a mare, she fell aserving and wringing her hands.—I inquired, with some alarm, what was the matter. “O dear, sir,” returned she, “it’s for the poor bairnies that’ll yet hae to dree this unlucky mischance—Laike-a-day, poor waefu brats! they’ll no lie in a dry bed for i dozen o’ years to come!”
“Hout! baud your tongue, Nelly,” said the best man, the thing’s but a freat a’ thogither. But really we coudna help it: the factor’s naig wantit a fore-fit shoe, an was beekin like a winter-craw. If I had ridden five miles to the smiddy wi' him, it is ten to ane that Jock Anderson wad hae been drunk, an’ then we wadna hae gotten him; bride hame afore twall o’clock at night; sae I thought it was better to let them tak their chance than spoil sae muckle good sport, an' I e’en set her on Wattle Briden’s povnie. The factor has behaved very ill about it, the inuekle stoottin gowk! If I had durst, I wad hae gitn him a deevil of a thrashin; but he says, ‘Faith it’s— that—yes, indeed—that—he will send them—yes, faith—it’s even a—a new tikabed every year.’”
The ceremony of the marriage next ensued; but as there was nothing peculiar about it (except that it took place in the bridegroom's house, and not at the bride’s former home, which was out of the parson’s reach); and as it was, besides, the dullest part of that day’s exercise, I shall not say much about it, only that every thing was done decently and in order. But I have run on so long with this Number, that I fear I must postpone the foot-race, the dinner discourse, and final winding up of the wedding, till a future opportunity.
As I may have misspelled the odd word or two the original text can be read at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...edding_day.pdf
And that's it for this week and hope you all enjoy your weekend.
Alastair